Tuesday, September 2, 2008

NGS NewsMagazine Table of contents - July-September 2008

The July-September 2008 issue of the NGS NewsMagazine (Volume 34, Number 3), published by the National Genealogical Society (NGS), arrived recently, and, as always, I read it cover-to-cover. The Table of Contents include:

FEATURES:

* NGS Board of Directors election - page 9

* NGS presents awards at Kansas City, by Julie Miller, CG - page 12

* Lowell Volkel elected to NGS Hall of Fame, by Shirley Langdon Wilcox, CG - page 16

* NGS President's Citation, by Pamela Boyer, CG, CGL - page 17

* Official NGS Ballot 2008 - page 18

* The Great Wagon Road, by Dorothy A. Boyd-Bragg, PhD - page 21

* Southern migration trails, by Lynda Suffridge - page 26

* They walked in faith, by Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL - page 30

* Crossword Puzzle: Death and taxes, by Mary Clement Douglass, CG - page 34

* Emma and Jean: A source is a source, by Donald W. Moore, CG - page 36

* Timelines: A chronology of life events, by Chuck Knuthson - page 38

* Case Study: Martha A. Sitley Medara: A case of a disappearing divorcee, by Charles S. Mason, Jr., CG - page 52

COLUMNS

* National Archives: Anatomy of a Union Civil War pension file, by Claire Prechtel-Kluskens - page 43

* Beginning genealogy: Google me, by Gary M. and Diana Crisman Smith - page 49

* Software review: Review of The Master Genealogist 7, by Barbara Schenck - page 55

* Technology: On or off? Where should you keep your genealogy research? by Drew Smith, MLS - page 59

* Writing family history, by Harold E. Hinds, PhD - page 62

I especially enjoyed the Case Study and Wagon Road articles, and the Pension File column too.

After checking the Publications page on the NGS site, it appears that only NGS members can view the online Table of Contents for the NGS Quarterly and NGS NewsMagazine. I wonder why NGS, and other societies, hide their bushels of genealogy information (at least their Table of Contents) behind their web site membership firewall? For example, if someone wanted to know something about the Great Wagon Road, they wouldn't find the current NGS article by Googling "great wagon road." [Well, they would find this blog post, probably.] If the TOC was put online by NGS, then a curious person could find it, go to a library and read the article or copy it, and/or perhaps join NGS.

These publications are the most visible benefit of joining the National Genealogical Society. For many members, the periodicals are the only tangible benefit of society membership. Why not publicize contents more effectively and try to encourage society membership?

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